Midtown International Theatre Festival presents Third Annual Midwinter Madness Short Play Festival, 2/4-24

John Chatterton and The Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival (MITF) have announced the Third Annual Midwinter Madness Short Play Festival, from Feb. 4 through 24, 2013. The Festival will take place at Roy Arias Studios' Stage 2, 300 W. 43rd St. 4th fl. Tickets (from $13 to $18, depending on a play's length; no discounts for seniors or students) are available at www.smartTix.com (search by play title or follow the link provided below) or by calling 212/868-4444.

"Mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow. Tennessee Williams's college professor made him write one-act plays, before he went on to write STREETCAR. Writing one-acts or even ten-minute plays is a natural step in a playwright's development, or even a way for the master to step back and amuse him- or herself between blockbusters. This year's Festival crams three performances of three-dozen one-acts into three weeks in one theatre, which must be some sort of record!"

A BABY'S ARM HOLDING AN APPLE by Mandi Riggi (45 min.). Two souls long for lost love as they await their fate in the afterlife.

BRIDGE TO BARAKA by Yvette Heyliger (30 min.). Emboldened by an unlikely 1960s movement, Yvette X stakes her claim as a female dramatist coming of age during the ongoing fight for parity in the American Theatre. Tix: http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=BRI42

LIFE AS A POMEGRANATE by Dawna J. Wightman; directed by Ginette Mohr; sound composition by David Mesiha (60 min.). One-woman comedy about a young woman with kids and a bad marriage in a redneck Canadian town. Tix: http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=LIF34

OLD MAN RIVER by Corey Pajka, directed by Guil Fisher (45 min.). A young man with the eyes of the world on him, and a young woman who's been let down by human nature, cross paths in a New York bar discovering they weren't as alone as they thought. Tix: http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=OLD10

RADICAL by Nelson Diaz-Marcano (60 min.). September 11, 1973 Chile. An American missionary and a wounded young man are trapped in a basement where they are met by an armed cynical idealist while society crumbles during one of the most devastating coups in Latin american history. Tix: http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=RAD18

RADIO MARA MARA by Libby Emmons, directed by Ali Ayala; starring Christopher Burris and Zoe Metcalfe-Klaw (45 min.). In an abandoned radio station in the hills around a bombed-out capital city, the DJ and the Archivist come to terms with the world that's left them behind. Tix: http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=RAD19

RED FLOWERS IN THE SNOW by Lavinia Roberts, directed by Irene Kapustina; starring Joey Lozada, Lucie Pohl, & Mike Amato (45 min.). Three squatters try to take care of themselves when no one else cares.Tix: http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=RED28

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO HENRY? by Scott Rogowsky (45 min.) An unorthodox meditation on Orthodox Judaism, as explored by three old friends who reunite in Israel for the wedding of an estranged classmate. Tix: http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=WHA45

WICCANS IN THE 'HOOD by Michelle T. Johnson (60 min.). Friends conducting rituals in an urban cemetery are mistakenly taken for being Wiccans by a black neighbor who stumbles upon them. Tix: http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=WIC

John Chatterton created the MITF in 2000, a Midtown alternative to other theatre festivals, as a way to present the finest off-off Broadway talent in convenience, comfort, and safety. The MITF's artistic emphasis is on the script itself, and therefore the Festival focuses on minimal production values. If anything, the Midwinter Madness Short Play Festival, and Mr. Chatterton's other showcases for short plays, take the theme of minimalism even further. As he puts it, "The shorter the plays, the more plays we have in one space, so the less space we have for each one. We learn to share."